Rooty

Kingdom Hearts took about twelve games to finish one 'saga'. At this point he's better off just leaving it as is rather than attempting to wrap it up in the space of a few years.

Party's over, pal(world.)

I'm sure they'll manage to wiggle their way out of this somehow, even if it means dropping a feature or two from the game. Reminds me of the nonsense with WB (I think) patenting the Nemesis System from those LoTR games. A super cool feature being held hostage by a company that probably won't ever do anything with it again. Wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo got the idea from that in the first place.

Surely if we go far enough we can simply suggest every developer is guilty of copying every other developer by virtue of them all releasing 'games' for 'computers'? Food for thought.

Oh wait it's really not.

Also, go Astro Bot <3

*poring, not pouring.

@PinderSchloss We obviously have two very different experiences with Nintendo. If I for a moment felt I was getting 'robbed' by buying their products I would simply stop doing so. Things have a finite lifespan and everything ends sooner or later. How we deal with this sobering fact of life is down to the individual at the end of the day.

@PinderSchloss Ah, loyalty. Always best served with a massive sense of entitlement.

I can't shake the image of this exact discussion taking place in Nintendo HQ, only with a bunch of middle-aged Japanese men in suits.

Video gaming is deeply, deeply, weird.

I think it's fair to say the Pokemon anime wouldn't have had nearly the staying power it did if it wasn't for the VAs turning the lightweight scripts into something that was always fun to watch on screen. Rachael Lillis was a huge part of early Pokemon and will likely always be the voice of Misty and Jessie for most of us. Truly awful news, may she forever live in our hearts <3

This series is so charming and well put together it's become one of my favourite franchises in modern gaming despite having all the depth of a litterbox. Great games to get kids into RPGs, or just gaming in general. Delighted to hear this turned out well.

The last two levels in this game are nightmares that live in my head years late, absolutely nullifying any desire I might have to pick this up and revisit one of the cooler narrative offshoots from the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Probably safest just to watch someone suffer through it on Youtube.

Edit: This is the game that gave us the hilariously named Longo Two-Guns though, so I can't truly bring myself to hate on it for long.

I thought the name of the 'Chucky' franchise was actually Child's Play, but then who am I to argue with the wisdom of the soulless corporate thinkvat that spent all of five minutes putting the wheels of this trainwreck-to-be in motion?

These icon selections are laughably bad. Someone must have the stats somewhere about the hundreds of icons that are never being used by anyone, because ninety percent of most waves are absolute nothings. If you don't have enough interesting art assets for three waves, you probably shouldn't be releasing three waves. And I say this as someone who is quite happy to have an obscure F-Zero car for an icon.

They never translate any of the Japanese-only games they drop. I understand that these endeavours take resources but it's not like the online service is free in the first place, and then there's the expansion pack premium on top of that. One of the areas Nintendo could stand to do better in, honestly.

@Qwiff Well said.

System stability at 10000%

The game's fun enough while it's sticking to the actual 'bounty hunter' part of the premise, but the later levels are murderously tedious action-platformy slogs. That said, the story's decent and fills in a lot of backstory for Clone Wars-era Star Wars so it might be worth it for fans.

I could get behind this as a way to kill some time with mindless amusement on the go as I do love a bit of Metal Slug, but equally I could see it being a quick route to lobbing my Switch through the nearest window. Quite the pickle.

@Spider-Kev Yeah, of course they'd refute this story. It'd be bad for business not to, regardless of the actual situation.

Bye, GAME. Thanks for all the cheap preowned games over the years!

Everyone who said Hybrid Heaven over some of the dubious choices here (Daikatana? Really???), I salute you. If they gave that the modern remake treatment it would hold up and then some.

Honestly, drab as the EU/US boxart is I think it's a better fit than the rather cluttered composition on Japan's. Even though the ensemble cast was larger than usual in Corruption you still spent vast swathes of the game soaking in that good 'ole Metroid isolation. The first one captures that a wee bit better.

@mikegamer I jest.

Sort of.

Gex in 2024. Have we learned nothing as a species?

I have a Lite but the battery's borked after months of being left plugged in accidentally. Genuinely considering the Hyrule Edition because it's gorgeous and, more importantly, fiscally irresponsible

Just picked up Wildfrost yesterday so this is fortuitous timing. The game is super adorable but also super challenging right now. Given how most roguelite's play out I can't imagine it'll be long before I'm snowballing everything in sight into oblivion. Hopefully more people pick this up because it's a really polished game and tons of fun.

My Switch is so stable at this point it's giving me life advice.

@Nontendo_4DS For the most part, yes. Animal Well just isn't clicking with me. There are both better Metroidvanias out there and better puzzle platformers out there in my estimation. Heck, Braid is one of them.

It's interesting that the public score for Animal Well is a couple of points out of step with the critical one here. I am an avid gamer who usually loves Metroidvanias but I've played Animal Well and have to say I...just don't get it. It's perfectly alright, but honestly that's all it is to me. It's so odd to see the gaming press absolutely fawning over this game the way it has.

Let's-a-go to the Antipodes!

@CooCooKaChoo Sure am. Amazing little game that doesn't try to be anything other than what it is, but does that so well.

Much to the disapproval of my dog I have been playing (and completing)...Cat Quest.

Tis a pawfectly reasonable way to pass the time.

As a Brit who has next to no working knowledge of city life in America this comment section has been illuminating. And troubling.

Of course Sakurai is massively downplaying the issue of character balancing in Smash. There's a reason Nintendo has an infamously prickly relationship with the fighting game tournament scene after all, and a big part of that is because of their philosophy that the game should be seen as inclusive to players of all skill levels. They don't want Smash cultivating an image as some super hardcore fighting game only accessible to 'pro gamers' because they're worried that would limit its appeal to the masses. The real news would be if the game director said anything other than 'sure guys, you can play who you want and still have a great time!'.

Edit: Not that I think the man's actually wrong. Smash really is well balanced given its ludicrous roster size.

Compelling narrative and perfect cast aside, If Link doesn't say 'it's Zeldin' time!' at least once during the film's runtime can we really class it a success?

Can't wait for the big twist in the third act that Ganon was merely a puppet for the true dark lord of Hyrule, Tingle.

This smells like Nintendo having beef with specific retailers rather than a genuine shift in their sales policy.

It's good, but it's no Jelly Boy.

I kid, I kid. Super Mario Land is one of my earliest gaming memories and I'm stoked to be able to revisit it today.

Obligatory 'Ms. Mowz 4 Smash' comment.

Also known as the 'I forgot to ask my PA to read the Wikipedia entry for this franchise' answer. Nicely dodged sir.

It's bananas to think this is where the company is after the absolute trainwreck of the Wii U years (from a business standpoint). Congratulations to those who soldiered on when it seemed at times like Nintendo were on the slippery slope to obscurity in the console space, what a comeback story this has been.

Never played it, but was a big fan of the first. The sequel always struck me as unnecessary and lacking in charm compared to the original, but I'd love to be proven wrong on that front. Will definitely wait for a sale before considering a purchase though.

This is actually a pretty nifty way to get people to investigate something that they mightn't otherwise give a second thought to precisely because of the 'it's a 20 year old game' mentality. People can see for themselves if they can deal with the inherent jankiness of some of the systems before committing to the purchase. KOTOR remains a good game and a cracking Star Wars narrative even a couple of decades on from release, so this seems an entirely appropriate use of the Game Trial system.

@PinderSchloss That can't possibly be true. Might be enforceable for written instances as it's a brand name but no contract is going to oblige a director to censor his own speech, particularly pertaining to said director's own supposed life experience.

The fact he continually refers to the property as 'Legend of Zelda' rather than just good 'ole 'Zelda' is a little...odd. I wonder which of the Legend of Zeldas was his favourite? Super Legend of Zelda, I'd hope!

This game has a seal wearing a crown in it, and you're giving it 5/10?

A SEAL. WEARING. A CROWN.

Shut up and take my money Arika.

He's here to get that next-gen Virtual Boy project greenlit at last, right? Right???

The fact every other comment here is championing a different fighter would seem to suggest Sakurai is on the money with his musings this time. Go my adorable tag teaming Ice Climbers, go!

YOU ARE A SUPER PLAYER

(just pretend I wrote that in coins.)

((in the sky.))

It's oddly heartening to know they're at least willing to pretend they'll still be supporting the game four years down the road. Optics are everything in the entertainment business, after all.

@vyseofhr So much this. If I want to brave the dread Goblin Shark's lair in search of underwater junk I can't imagine it'll have the same atmosphere with three random strangers off to the side doing underwater backflips.